Hockey hodge-podge: Sedin remembers a young Murray, Niemi on the blame game, third-period leads — and more

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — With two days between games at the Western Conference finals, you’ve got a situation where there are dozens of reporters in pursuit of a smorgasbord of stories.

Yes, there is that Game 2 advance, but maybe that can wait another 24 hours. So you’re sharing interview time with others going off in every direction imaginable. It can be frustrating because for that moment you don’t really want to hear another response to yet another question about Logan Couture, but you listen anyway. And a lot of the time, you come away with good material.

Here are snippets of what the recorder picked up today. And to keep the smorgasbord imagery going, we’ll start with Daniel Sedin talking about Douglas Murray.

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*****Murray is six months older than the Sedin twins, Daniel and Henrik, and he has been competing against them since they were about 12.

So what does Daniel Sedin remember about Murray at that age?

“Big,” the Canucks left wing said. “He was a man when he was 12. We played together on the national team and against him in a few tournaments. He’s always been good.”

Murray’s size wasn’t the only thing that Daniel Sedin remembered about the defenseman as a teammate in international competition.

“He’s got his opinions and he doesn’t mind talking about them,” he said. “He’s pretty un-Swedish that way.”

Murray responded that the Sedins “have been amazing since the first day I played against them. You always have got to know where the other one is because usually it’s not the one with the puck that’s doing the most damage.”

*****Sharks goalie Antti Niemi has a reputation for not blaming his teammates when pucks get past him, even if they may have made mistakes leading up to the goal. Monday he was asked how he developed that approach.

On almost every goal, he said, there is probably something a player could have done differently.

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“Always I think it’s my job, whatever happens on the ice before the shot, it doesn’t matter to me,” Niemi said. “I’ve got to be ready to stop the puck when the shot happens.”

****Finland beat Sweden 6-1 for the IIHF World Hockey Championship on Sunday and that means Niemi and backup Antero Niittymaki get to collect on a friendly wager with Murray and Niclas Wallin.

“I think me and Niitty, we’ve got a free dinner tonight,” Niemi said.

*****Coaches and players generally prefer games to be scheduled every other night, but Todd McLellan wasn’t complaining about the extra day off between Games 1 and 2.

“You always want to get back on the horse as quick as you can, but in this case I think the extra day will help us,” he said. “Take advantage of it today physically, and tomorrow we’ll have a real good skate and if we don’t perform better mentally and physically in Game 2, we’ll end up with the same results.”

*****A recurring line of questioning focused on the Sharks inability to hold a third-period lead, something that hurt them twice in the Detroit series and again Sunday night.

So are Dan Boyle and his teammates uncomfortable when they find themselves in that situation.

“No, not uncomfortable at all. I don’t feel uncomfortable with a lead,” Boyle said. “That’s where I want to be. But we‘ve got to find a way to finish people off. Maybe get that next goal.”

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

I see alot of comments about the Sharks needing to pick up the hitting.

It is somewhat of a double-edged sword because the Canucks are a fast team.

Sometimes when you go for a hit, regardless of whether you hit or miss, it leaves you out of position and contributes to an odd man rush if the person getting hit anticipates the hit and getrs rid of the puck.

I guess i would also like to see the Sharks hit more as it might counterract some of Vancouver’s speed but in the right situations at the right time. Not hitting for the sake of hitting. Because that will definitely favor Vancouver.

SeattleSharkGirl

Dear God… NHL in Seattle?!?! Be still my hopeful heart! I’d spend too much time trying to figure out how to pay for season tickets, and how to attend all those games with a 2-year-old. Especially from the suburbs, 45-minutes+ from downtown. (our traffic up here tends to look like your traffic down there)
Agreed that we have the numbers to support this sport, and I think the demographic is more inclined to hockey than basketball. We would need a new arena or a major revamp of the existing one to entice a team to come here, and as a state, we’ve got too many other infrastructure projects that require that cash. Unfortunately, I think there are too many obstacles. I will continue to hope and dream!!!
Also agreed taht the officiating was less than stellar, but the Sharks did little to make their own luck on Sunday. They spent too much time scrambling and playing catch up, particularly in the 3rd. Once they realized that Van was going to spend the game hitting them, they tried to hard to hit back. As Murray said earlier in the playoffs… you can’t get out of position and go too far out of the way to make a hit. (paraphrasing of course…) The Sharks did a lot of that, and it really hurt. I hope they reverse that trend. And for crying out loud, will comeone please make Torres feel as much pain as possible!?!?!?!?

Tano

Well…there is always the possibility of having Bill Gates come up with the money to not only build a new arena in Seattle but also have free tickets for everybody for say, 10 years?

He has the dough, in fact he has our dough because we bought his products.

Has he heard the saying…charity begins at home?
perhaps he can do a little charity in the area that made him rich…and still continue to donate in far far away places.

Just saying….

jlsj

SEATTLESHARKGAL
I agree, the Sharks didnt do much to create opportunities or “luck”

The difference in penalties occurred because the Sharks were not skating or moving at all.

When you skate you draw penalties IE holding, hooking, tripping.

The Sharks were not skating in fact they were chasing most of the second half of the game and were because of that called for more penalties (huskin’s hooking, Boyle’s holding)

JLofty

I am a Raider fan and have been for 35-40 years, I know ALL about crappy one-sided – I am sure the Ref was on the phone with the commissioner in the replay booth – type officiating. But the conversation gets old. The refs sucked but wtf.
Sharks were outplayed on Sunday. Fact. We somehow managed to obtain a lead while doing so. Cool but false hope.
For tomorrow however, I have REAL hope that they will be rested and ready to go.
I want to see more physicality out of the Sharks. Lots more.
I want to see Raffi crushed like beer can eh?
Same for Kessler.
I want to see the boys skating hard and fast like we all know they can.
Nice not having to plow thru a bunch of Sarahs in here. I even enjoyed Brian Bailey’s post….

Still think the coach needs to be the one stirring the pot, not a player. But the way the officiating went in game 1, adding some light to the situation is probably a good thing. I think if I was a ref, I’d hate the guys who embellish the most — they are the ones that are trying to make me look bad.

bruce

Here’s a possible explanation for the subpar officiating throughout the playoffs and especially Sunday night: The NHL officials are subpar! Below average officials do a below average job, night in and night out. It starts with the league office(anyone got a logical explanation for their “disciplinary” system) and filters down through referees who can’t tell a fantom elbow from a sniper’s bullet once the “victim’s” head snaps back all the way to linesmen bent on setting world’s records for most faceoffs delayed and botched with thrown out participants. A record that may last longer than Dimaggio’s 56 , by the way. That being said, would it KILL McLovin to put 3 guys who never take a shift off and bring energy and physicality to every shift on the ice for more than 3 or 4 minutes a game? Just sayin’. Why get Eager,Mayers andNichol and then let ’em sit idle while the top 2 lines get leg weary every 3rd period from overuse? There’s a reason we’re blowing 3rd period leads lately, Toddie.

bruce

BTW, I’m calling the time of my last post, 11:11 a great omen for the Sharks…that’s 4 ACES to you PaiGow poker players!

SeattleSharkGirl

Bruce..
Agree that the 4th line should get more minutes. It will take all the skaters the Sharks have to get the Cup won. ALL! The top 2 lines are getting worn out by the middle of the 3rd, which I think may be part of the collapse problem.
I do not see the 4th line as the defensive liability that others do, and they come out with massive energy every shift. And besides, if anyone is going to give us the plastering of Torres we all so desperately want, it will be one of the 4th line. :^)

Tano

the problem is that Todd did not use the 4th liners that much in the first two series and the boys won both…
But I tend to agree that he is overusing some people, look at the minutes that Boyler is playing…it makes me tired just to think about it. If we get through this round, Boyler is going to be a shadow of himself…

grd22

am i wrong or does heatley fall down more then anyone else,and that penalty he took lost the game for us,i no everyone make mistakes but that elbow he threw was really bad timing.he can be a really good player but it seems he should take some heat for that one.this may have been mentioned b4 but i just got on and havent read many blogs.

grd22

whers ref mccleary when you need him ,or did he retire,????

ZEKE

grd22 — you are wrong.

Heatley’s penalty was a bad call, just as the offside on his breakaway was a bad call. Just as the interference call on Eager was a bad call.

Here’s a discussion with the ESPN guys. Sharks segment begins at about 6 minutes. The Heatley penalty discussion starts at just past 9 minutes — both guys thought the penalty was a poor call, that it was sold by Torres from Vancouver.

so far in game one, i’ve seen both murray and pavelski get walloped, and haven’t seen much hitting the other way, aside from the 4th line.

i don’t remember many times when i’ve seen murray getting out-hit, but it seems to be happening lately.

it seems like the sharks played a puck possession, skill game against the wings and beat them at their own game.

now it looks like they’re up against a team that has the skill but also likes to hit, and if they don’t start putting some fear into the canuck puck carriers, making them hear some footsteps they’ll make the plays they need to make AND the momentum swings from good hits will be one directional…

i’m not saying get out of position to try to make a hit, but finish checks in all 3 zones and good things will happen.

grd22

ZEKE-THANKS FOR THE INPUT I WILL TUNE IN TO ESPN,THANKS.

Ancient Mariner

Couple of observations:

Penalties were even during the 2nd half of the game. Really think biased officials would have loaded up on the Sharks when the Sharks were ahead.

You think the 3rd line should get more rugged? Throw those 500 lbs around? I believe Van got rid of Welwood because he wasn’t physical enough for their style.

Looking for a fall-guy for goal #3? How about Boyle, who misplayed the puck along the wall?

Easier to move the puck against Van than Detroit? Not in the 2nd half of the game. Getting Demers back will help in that regard.

Let’s hope we have more pop after an addtional days rest. JP

JLofty

yes bring back Jason Demurs. I thought he was a having a solid if not d@mn good playoffs thus far…

grd22

NOW I NO WHY I DONT WATCH ESPN,ALL THEY TALK ABOUT IS FKN BASKETBALL.

MikeR

@grd22 – Heatley falls all over the place. When he played for Ottawa, he fell all over the place.

ZEKE

In the past 3 games, we’ve been out-shot rather dramatically. By my count, 38 shots or 13 per game.

Shots on goal
Them: 122
Us: 84

Outshot by:
1st period: 7
2nd period: 20 (!!)
3rd period: 12

OK, I know the math is off by 1 shot … but its close enough.

I think it says TMc really needs to look at how he’s putting the lines out there for the 2nd period, especially with the long changes. And maybe it also speaks to the point often made up here, you do pay for it later in the game when you only roll 3 lines.

Don

I am an English Major and English teacher: Come on DP, where’s the pronoun antecedent?

pac northwest

The pronoun antecedent haas been sent down to Worcester.

AlfromAlbany

Demers did not practice with the team today. Everyone else practiced.

hockeyrocks

#21 bruce from another thread “Plus, Eager,Mayers and Scotty had a ton of jump yesterday and couldn’t get on the ice with an e-pass. Good use of your “depth”, idiot. THAT’S why no one had their legs in the 3rd. Killing 4x more penalties thn Vanc. with 25% less lines in play will do that to you.”

I agree with you 100%. The Sharks coaches can’t have it both ways – ie. use tiredness as an excuse for the Sharks losing Game 1 but not do anything to help players get rested between shifts in that game.

As you note, our 4th line players did well whenever they were on the ice. SN had 3 Hts (which is darn good considering that the team as a whole only had 26 hits in total) and SN had the best team face off win @ 75% (3/4) for the team. SN only played 5:28 – 4:40 EV and :48 PK, which is a head scratcher in itself considering that the Sharks 10 minutes of PK to kill off and SN is typically part of the team’s PK unit.

JM played 4:37, had 1 SOG, 3 hits.( very good just like SN)

BE played 6:48 ( he got more shifts than SN and JM in the 3rd). BE had 3 SOG and 2 hits (good).

SN+JM+BE had 8 hits total which was approx 25% of the team’s total hits for the game which is particularly commendable considering their TOI. The only 2 forwards coming close to them were Clowe and Heatley with 2 hits each, but Clowe and Heatly had 18:22 and 17:25 TOI respectively.

Also our 4th liners had relatively short shifts to get these hits done -they used their TOI efficiently – SN’s avg TOI was 00:27; JM’s was 00:34; BE’s was 00:31. Clowe’s average TOI shift lasted 00:39 and Heater’s was 00:37. PM’s average was 00:41 with 1 hit; DS’s was 00:43 with 0 hits; JT’s was 00:37 with 1 hit (as a comparison).

A couple of posters said that the Canuck’s 4th liner TOI was very similar to that of the Sharks’ 4th liners so big deal, blah, blah, our 4th liners need “to produce” more to earn more time. That reasoning makes no sense to me considering that our 4th liners did “produce” for the limited TOI they rec’d and the fact of the matter is that our 4th liners were needed more because our top 3 lines had just played on Thursday. Canucks top three lines did not need to be spelled off – they had the necessary time off. Also the Canucks had 8 minutes of PP so obviously they wouldn’t use their 4th liners as much whereas 1 of our 4th liners is part of the PK unit and he only got 48 seconds of PK time out of 10 minutes of Sharks PK minutes.

Also Canucks had 2 out of 3 4th liners who were duffers, babies and still Vigneault trusted them with the same amount of minutes as our 4th liners, 2 of whom are seasoned veterans and 1 of whom played on the SC winning team last year.

Corey Hodgson is only 21, a rookie, on Sunday he played only 5:25 but “his average time on ice throughout the post-season is 7:17″ according to a Vancouver Sun article. This is puzzling – why does Vigneault trust his 4th liners – one a total green horn rook whereas our coach does not trust his veteran 4th liners?

Vigneault may be planning to give his 4th liners a bit more TOI in Game 2 – according to a twitter post by Dan Rosen of NHL.com “Tambellini working on 4th line with Hodgson and Oreskovich. Glass skating as extra forward.” Sharks better keep an eye on Tambellini – he’s is a very fast skater ( he single handedly saved the win for the Canucks game 6 vs the Preds). He has a bit of a scoring touch and more importantly he’s an experienced pro so he might bring some poise and confidence to the 2 Manitoba Moose babies, Hodgson and Oreo, playing on the 4th line.

Tambellini is small built so hopefully our Dmen will level him if he comes too close to Nemo with the puck on his stick.

hockeyrocks

A CBC Sports writer relates an interesting coach’s observation specific to the Sharks – do you agree?

snip

…A Western Conference coach had a very interesting breakdown of how he’d attack the Sharks. All of their puck-moving defencemen (Dan Boyle, Jason Demers, Ian White) are on the right side. “The only guy on the left who can really make a pass is Marc-Eduard Vlasic,” he said. He’d have his players throw it into the right corner, clobber one of those three, and make them pass it to the left-siders. Detroit really punished them with a similar idea…

Hamhuis had 2; Bieksa had 5; Ehrhoff had 3;Edler had 5;Rome had 1; Salo had 0.

Murray had 3; Wallin had 1; White had 1; Boyle had 0; Huskins had 0; Vlasic had 4 (!).

B. Hits of the 3rd line players – often the “difference makers” in the PO’s

Canucks 3rd line total was 10 vs Sharks 3rd line total of 2.

Torres had 4; Lapierre had 3; Hansen had 3.

Pavelski had 1; Mitchell had 1; Wellwood had 0.

bruce

hockeyrocks…AWESOME use of stats on 4th liners and hits! YOU should be on the “energy” line. Maybe Todd would even play you.

Beer Bum

Both teams have an equal amount of rest for Wednesday’s game. I like the Sharks. >=^((;>

GDub

Pierre LeBrun tweeted that he has confirmed that Jumbo challenged Kesler to a fight on the opening faceoff.

Misguided? Maybe. But I freaking LOVE IT.

Go get ’em JT!

sj2PHX2sj

Phoenix isn’t a bad market for hockey, as there are many large youth tournaments in the valley every year. The main problem with PHX is the arena is in Glendale. The problem is the social centers, and those with money, are far away from Glendale. This was an issue for Glendale when the Super Bowl came and the majority of the money spent was not there but in Scottsdale. The issue in is rather deep and not really blog-comment material…..other than Location, degradation, migration!

GP

I think some explanation is needed here because the reading of stats is being interpreted incorrectly.

The HIT stat is not a complete statistical description of being physical. The HIT stat is actually directly related to takeaways. A takeaways is when you literally take the puck from the opposing team/player. A HIT is recorded when a player makes a body check and the puck is turned over because of that body check.

So, when the ‘Nucks have 38 hits, that means there were 38 times during the game a “Nucks player made a body check on a Sharks player that had control of the puck and the ‘Nucks took control of the puck as a result of that hit.

Also, the recording of that stat may not be a precise account. These humans recording these numbers are local in the city they are in.

I see Scott Nichol HIT someone almost every shift he plays. I don’t see the puck control changing to the Sharks a lot. So, is Nichol being not being physical because a HIT wasn’t recorded? I think many of you would say Scott Nichol is one of the more physical players on the Sharks. I know I would.

So IMO, making a conclusion about the HITS stat regarding a teams physicality is highly incorrect. You really need to watch how many body checks are finished, and not worry about about the puck. I would say if the ‘Nucks had 38 HITS, they probably threw many more body checks. I saw the Sharks throw many body checks, and really wasn’t effective based on the HIT stat.

GP

“Murray had 3; Wallin had 1;”

More proof that the HIT stat is being misinterpreted.

Does anyone that watched game 1 think Murray only made 3 body checks? I know Wallin hit a lot more Canucks than 1.

All this stat means: the Sharks took control of puck 3 times when Murray made a body check. That is all it means. And, the scorer may have got it wrong.

Obviously, the Canucks were very effective using the “body check” to separate the puck from the Sharks.

gbs417

How great would that have been if JT fought Kesler before the series even started?!

GP

hmmm…well, both players probably have received game misconducts.

Kesler no doubt is playing well, but I’d rather have Jumbo in the lineup. Would have been a bad trade of penalties IMO.

I don’t think I like it if they waited till puck drop. Joe’s more valuable over that 5 min.

Besides, Jumbo is trying a psych job on Kesler IMO.

Sydney Joel Goldberg

Good to see that the Sharks have an active and knowlege filled fan base and David Pollack doing a super job of covering the team. I look foreword to a super solid fun game because both teams play an offense driven approach to the game. While I will cheer for my Canucks a great game from both sides, perhaps with an overtime ending would make for great coffee talk tomorrow morning. Syd Goldberg

KA

Fans of ALL teams are always whinning about alleged “weak” penalty calls against their team. Quit whinning! I despise cry baby fans. I am a Sharks fan, and I am tired of hearing about the calls that go against the Sharks. That’s life! Deal with it. It is not an excuse for the Sharks to lose. They need to kill the penalty and get on with the game. NO sniveling. The Canucks are a good team. The Sharks will need to play well for 60 minutes to beat them. If the Sharks lose tonight, I believe they will lose the series. I do not yet believe the Sharks have the “killer” instinct to go all the way. But I hope they prove me wrong. GO SHARKS

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